


One New Message

by MagicWolf



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk (Undertale), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Frisk (Undertale), Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Neutral Pacifist Ending, Spoilers - Undertale Neutral Route, Spoilers - Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 11:31:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15994307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicWolf/pseuds/MagicWolf
Summary: Post-neutral pacifist end: Frisk wonders if it’s too late to go back and save their friends until they get an unexpected message from an old enemy.





	One New Message

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Undertale is the property of Toby Fox. And on that note, happy three-year anniversary to Undertale!

 

“so, uh, hey…if we’re not giving up down here…don’t give up wherever you are, ok?”

Frisk pressed ‘stop’, and rolled onto their back on the lumpy mattress, staring up at the ceiling. They wanted to replay the rest of the message for the fifth time, but it was bedtime, and they’d already been caught staying up too late with their new cell phone once before. Thankfully, it had been one of the nicer matrons who caught them, and just let Frisk off with a warning. She didn’t even ask where they got the phone from.

Not that she, or anyone else at the orphanage, would believe them.

Then again, it would probably be better if they didn’t. After barely emerging from the underground in one piece, covered in swamp muck, sweat, and melted snow, Frisk had stumbled down the other side of Mt. Ebott, and made it back to the orphanage just in time for supper. Everyone had been worried sick ever since the bold child had disappeared early that morning, and demanded to know where they had been. All Frisk could say was:

“On an adventure.”

Which wasn’t a lie. Everyone just thought Frisk had ventured out too far into the forest, and now that they were back home, a crisis had been averted.

Which it had…sort of.

After all, if Frisk had brought even one of their new monster friends out on the surface, how would anyone react? The kids at the orphanage would love Papyrus, but the matrons wouldn’t. For sure, they couldn’t imagine anyone approving of someone like Undyne being a gym teacher. The matrons might like Toriel, though the other children might tire of her “knowing what’s best for them”.

How would they react to Sans? Or Alphys?

Undyne had said that Alphys was more reclusive than normal. What did that mean? Frisk knew Alphys had lied to them about Mettaton being a killer robot, and had almost allowed Frisk to believe they could cross the barrier without having to make any sacrifices. Was that what was bothering her? Frisk had known kids who claimed to have super-famous rich celebrity parents who traveled the world, just because they wanted to feel important, so they understood that need for approval.

…Should they have told Alphys that? Might she be less reclusive now if she knew that Frisk didn’t hold any of that against her?

Or what if that wasn’t it at all? What if there was something else wrong, something that Frisk didn’t know about? Could they help, if they knew? __Should__ they help?

It didn’t matter. It was too late to go back. The barrier was still very much intact, and the drop-down from where Frisk had fallen had been pretty steep. Only a bed of flowers had broken their fall.

Frisk’s stomach clenched. If they went back THAT way, they might run into… _ _him__ …again.

They shook their head. Flowey wasn’t here. He was back underground, with the others.

Back where he was free to torment everyone, because of Frisk’s mercy.

He had looked so stunned and sad when Frisk kept sparing him again and again, before he ran away crying. Was that a good thing? Was it another one of his tricks?

Frisk rolled over on their side. They looked up at the mountain landscape calendar on the wall. It had been almost a month since they fell underground, and a whole week since their friends had called. It had been scary, and yet, they had never felt so brimmed with wonder and amazement in all seven years of their life. They hadn’t been sure how to approach anyone at first, but it didn’t take long for them to find better solutions than fighting. They had made a lot of friends. Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Alphys, even Undyne to some extent, and so many others…

Actually, those had been the closest thing to friends Frisk had ever made.

Not that they didn’t get along with the other children, not at all. But it was hard to get attached to anyone who found a family only a few days or weeks of getting to know them, and having no way to contact them after.

Would Toriel have been a good mom? Would she have wanted to adopt Frisk, after already losing her own children? Would Asgore have been a good dad, despite everything, if he had survived?

Would Frisk ever see their friends again?

Thinking back to each of them left a small ache in their heart. They had survived, and made it back to safety, but their friends were still trapped underground. Part of Frisk had hoped that, at the end of their journey, they’d find a way to free everyone. They never stopped trying to do the right thing no matter what, and never stopped trying to save everyone.

It was how their parents had lived, and died. It was how Frisk should always live, to do what’s right no matter what. Sans himself had said that as long as they did what was in their heart, they could do the right thing.

But if that was true, then why did things still end up this way? Was life really just that unfair?

Frisk rubbed their eyes. They still weren’t very tired, and had gone to bed…how long ago?

They turned on their phone, to look at the clock in the right-hand corner. It was now 10:45 PM.

And there was a blinking notification right next to the time.

Right, Frisk remembered now. They had set their phone to silent when they got back, so it wouldn’t be spotted by anyone if it suddenly went off. That was why they hadn’t answered the group’s phonecall.

But wait…wasn’t that the last call they had? So why did this say there was a ‘new’ message? Had they tried to call again?

Frisk pulled up their voice mail. The first message, which had been from their group of friends, had come on Papyrus’ phone.

But the newer message, the one Frisk hadn’t listened to yet, had a number they didn’t recognize.

Frisk sat up in bed, frowning. Had Papyrus or Alphys given out their number to anyone else? Was it someone else trying to call on their own line?

This couldn’t wait for morning. They had to find out, if only to listen to old, familiar voices one more time.

Looking both ways, Frisk slid out of bed, and crept down the row of beds to the door.

…

Once they got outside, into the nearby woods, Frisk played the new message.

“Why…?”

Their heart pounded, and a hot knot tied up in the middle of their stomach.

They __knew__ that voice.

Flowey…?

How…?

“Why did you let me go?”

Frisk’s hand trembled. They should delete this message right now—

No. They’d hear him out. Flowey was back underground. He couldn’t get to Frisk from there. He couldn’t hurt them.

“Don’t you realize that being nice…just makes you get hurt?”

His voice sounded genuinely pained, similar to when Frisk had spared him, only…sadder?

“Look at yourself. You made all these great friends…But now, you’ll probably never see them again. Not to mention how much they’ve been set back by you. Hurts, doesn’t it?”

A flash of anger shot through Frisk. __Yes, Flowey, I know that. Did you call just because you wanted to make fun of me?__

“If you had just gone through without caring about anyone…you wouldn’t have to feel bad now.”

The ‘sympathy’ in Flowey’s voice made Frisk feel sick to their stomach. Was he being sincere? Or was  _this_  his new way of hurting Frisk if he couldn’t get out and do anything to them again—by rubbing their failures in their face?

“So I don’t get it. If you really did everything the right way…why did things still end up like this? Why…? Is life really that unfair?”

Tears stung Frisk’s eyes. They asked themselves that same question everyday, ever since they got back. Yet, Flowey didn’t sound even a little bit mocking.

If anything, he sounded like he was directing that question towards HIMSELF, not Frisk.

But that didn’t make any sense. Flowey didn't seem like the type who cared if his actions hurt people or not. He acted like it was all just a game to him. But for a brief moment underground, when Frisk spared Flowey, and he asked why they were being nice to him, it made them wonder. He sounded like no one had ever been nice to him before, yet most of the monsters Frisk had met  _did_ seem really nice.

So, __did__ something happen to him to make him think like that? Did Flowey know what it was like to try to do the right thing, and get hurt by it?

There was a long pause. Frisk wondered if Flowey had just forgotten to hang up. They sighed and reached for the ‘delete’ button.

“Say.”

Frisk stopped.

“What if I told you…”

Their thumb hovered over the ‘delete’ button.

“I knew some way to get you a better ending?”

They drew their thumb back.

“You’ll have to load your SAVE file, and…well, in the meantime, why don’t you go see Dr. Alphys?”

Alphys? What did Flowey know about her?

“It seems like you could have been better friends. Who knows…maybe she’s got the key to your happiness…? See you soon.”

Click.

‘End of message’.

Frisk stared at the phone for several seconds, then looked up at the moon. They had wanted to go back. They had thought about it, many times. They had tried to load their old SAVE file, too, back at the orphanage. Underground, it was easy, as if it came purely by instinct. It always worked.

But above ground, it didn’t. Not even once.

Not when Frisk went to lie down after lunch, not during quiet time, not even in their own bed at night. They thought their new power had been temporary, or that it could only be used a certain amount of times, or that it had been destroyed when Flowey took over.

But now that they thought about it, Frisk had only gained those abilities  _after_  falling underground. The first time they’d ‘died’, they had been certain it was the end, until they were brought back. Though shocked, and yet slightly elated, they soon came to trust this new power of theirs, and instinctively learned how to use it.

If Frisk climbed up the mountain, and fell down again, could they load their old SAVE file?

Wait…hadn’t Flowey destroyed it back when he trapped Frisk with his own godlike powers? Was it really ‘gone forever’? Or had it been brought back when the six souls defeated Flowey? Was it brought back by default now that he was no longer hijacking the universe?

…What if this was really a cruel trick? What if Flowey was trying to lure them into reloading the SAVE file he had created for them, so he could put them through the same hellish battle again and again? Or what if he was setting up another trap in some other way?

…Then Frisk would just keep defeating Flowey, without ever once killing him, over and over again, until they got the best possible ending for everyone.

If there was even a small chance that Frisk __could__  save everyone, they had to take it. For the new friends they had made, for the friends of those friends, and for all of monsterkind.

Maybe this was a trap. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe this was foolish. Maybe it’d be the smartest thing they’d ever done.

Only one way to find out.

Frisk took one last look over their shoulder, back at the orphanage, and ran off into the woods, towards the path that would lead them to Mt. Ebott.

…

Frisk worried they’d get lost and not remember the path. To their surprise, they made it back up the mountain with no trouble at all. Climbing was actually less difficult than last time. Maybe it was because Frisk knew which rocks were safe to grab onto, and which weren’t. Maybe it was because it wasn’t raining tonight, so the path was less slippery once Frisk reached the top.

Or maybe it was because Frisk was that much closer to a happy ending within their reach.

They ducked into the cavern, and stopped at the edge of the hole. Flowey might be waiting at the bottom. Or maybe Toriel. Or maybe no one at all.

But if going back under meant they could help Alphys, or anyone, it had to be worth it.

The thought that this could be it, that they could save everyone after all...

Filled Frisk with DETERMINATION.

They jumped down the hole.

…

And fell.

And fell.

And fell.

Until, at last, they came to the old familiar star, and the old options:

RESET

LOAD

Frisk pressed LOAD.

-End


End file.
